Friday newspaper round-up: Tier 2, John Lewis, mortgage defaults
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Friday 16 Oct 2020
(Sharecast News) - New lockdown restrictions to be imposed across much of England from Saturday could be the "death knell" for many pubs and restaurants, the government has been told, as business groups voiced concerns about a wave of job losses within weeks. London, Essex, York and parts of Derbyshire are among the regions that will be subject to tier 2 curbs, meaning people from multiple households will not be allowed to mix in venues such as pubs, restaurants and bars. - Guardian
The bill for private consultants hired by the government to help combat the coronavirus pandemic has climbed to £175m, as the chair of an influential parliamentary committee revealed that MPs would investigate the multimillion pound use of management consultancies. The government has bought consulting services from almost 90 different companies as it scrambled to fill gaps in the civil service's pandemic response. - Guardian
Two of Britain's largest airlines were paid more than £70m of taxpayer cash to fetch PPE from China, according to new data which threatens to reignite the row over tendering at the height of the Covid crisis. The deals with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic were part of a massive drive to replenish stocks of protective kit from sources all over the world. They will have provided vital funding to the airlines at a time when almost no passengers were travelling. - Telegraph
The future of John Lewis and Waitrose will not be exclusively in retail, Dame Sharon White has said as she prepares to unveil a strategy for the group. Dame Sharon, chairwoman of the John Lewis Partnership, said yesterday that while it was premature to sound the death knell of the high street, the employee-owned business needed to find "some balanced sources of profit". - The Times
High street lenders are steeling themselves for a wave of mortgage and business defaults in the coming months. The Bank of England's quarterly credit conditions survey found that the volume of delinquent loans in the three months to September changed little from earlier in the year but suggested a reckoning is coming as jobs are lost and companies go bust in the final quarter. - The Times
Email this article to a friend
or share it with one of these popular networks:
You are here: news
10 Lower Thames St,
London EC3R 6EN